Veterans day parade

This year's parade was amazing.  I felt blessed to be there, and to celebrate our heroes with my little loves.  The kids were so excited to see the helicopters, the tanks, the fire trucks, and listen to the bands.  Everyone cheered and clapped as the soldiers marched by, and then a silence crept through the crowd as a float carrying the family of a fallen soldier slowly passed in front of us.  The float started with poster sized pictures of a beaming young man at graduation, then pictures of a cheerful soldier in uniform with his gun draped across his shoulders.  At the end, his mother sat holding a picture of her handsome son bordered with his birth and death date.  I wanted to clap... hug her... say thank you for their sacrifice for my family, somehow apologize for her loss, but I was silenced by the look on her face.  She wasn't grieving or angry or bitter.  Instead, her heartbroken eyes yielded to love and pride in honoring her son.  I turned and saw these young men behind me saluting to her and melted.  This veterans day, I really got it.  I got a tiny glimpse of the love and honor and sacrifice, of the worry and pain and loss, of the fear and hope and trust that is given every single day on my behalf, and I felt the admiration and gratitude that I should feel every moment of every day for them in recompense of their service.